


There is a Willful Blindness

by pbandfluff



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: 4x11 Alternate Scene, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:16:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1285747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pbandfluff/pseuds/pbandfluff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A question I asked myself as I watched Claudia bring Artie’s consciousness back: Was that the only way Claudia and Artie’s exchange could have gone down? And then, of course, my Cleena feels exploded because she was right there the whole time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There is a Willful Blindness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miekhead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miekhead/gifts).



“Why it is so dark?”

Leena’s voice is small, scared, and Claudia doesn’t need to see her face to be able to picture what her reaction to the oncoming storm is; she’d seen the expression enough times when artifact retrievals were close calls and Leena caught a glimpse of their auras once they came home. 

Claudia grits her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut for just a moment, just a second, just enough to regain the willpower to ignore Leena.

Because it’s not Leena, not really.

Except it  _is_  Leena.

It is Leena, right down to the shirt Claudia pulled out of the closet for her the last morning they were together, that morning Leena tried to ply her back into bed with soft kisses across her shoulders and wandering hands on her hips.

It is Leena, down to the lingering perfume Claudia watched her apply in a move so graceful and effortless Claudia felt herself fall for the woman all over again.

It is Leena, in the way that Claudia can just  _tell_  without trying.

It is Leena. And that makes it hurt all the worse.

“That’s reality…finding its way in.” 

Finally, Claudia thinks, opening her eyes. Progress.

She doesn’t need to see Artie’s face either. Stubbornness, denial, regret - they’re a familiar mixture Claudia’s faced down more times than she can count. 

She ignores the part of her mind that is screaming that this is different. 

She can’t let it be different, not here, not when they need to get Artie back. Later, she thinks, it will be different later.

“She brought it.”

Artie’s voice is bitter, resentful, all too similar to when the darkness spoke to her through him. It washes over her and she sucks in a deep breath to let it pass.

Except instead of buffering the simple phrase, something inside cracks.

She sucks in another breath, then another, anything to buy herself time to keep this in check, because losing it inside Artie’s mind isn’t going to help anyone.

Artie makes a noise, a tiny little noise in the back of his throat that serves no purpose but to emphasize his displeasure.

At the sound, Claudia loses it.

“Of course I brought it!” she all but screams, hands balled into fists that quiver at her side. Artie and Leena both jump and turn to her, and for a moment Claudia thinks even the storm pauses at her anger.

“Of course I brought it Artie,” she seethes, glaring as he cowers in front of her. “What else did you expect me to do?”

“Let me go!” Artie tries to counter, but his words trail off as he realizes he’s only stoked the fire in Claudia’s eyes.

“I don’t think,” Claudia enunciates, stepping forward, “you understand, Artie. Because if you did, you would not be making me go through this.”

Now Claudia’s words have pricked at Artie, and he straightens as he finds his backbone once more.

“Make you go through this?” he bellows, hands gesturing at Claudia. “You don’t understand-“

“No,  _you_  don’t understand!” Claudia screeches, rocking up on her toes slightly. “And that’s the thing, you never would!”

Artie is suitably cowed, and it curbs the worst of Claudia’s anger.

“The only person I ever considered a father,” Claudia hisses lowly, “ _shot_  the only person I ever considered a lover.”

Artie’s face is stricken, but Claudia has started, and knows she cannot stop.

“And I come here,” she continues mockingly, gesturing at Artie’s vision of the B&B, “to help you and what do I find?”

“You,” she points, stepping forward, “sitting here, complaining about reality, wanting to hide away, making me face down Leena’s ghost while you rage at how  _unfair_  it is that I made you remember.”

There are tears in her eyes, and her voice is beginning to quaver, but she is so tired of Artie  _not understanding_.

“You know what’s unfair? That you would  _dare_  to be  _selfish_  enough to stay here forever with your memory of her while I get to wake up every morning to a world where she’s gone! I  _loved_  her, Artie, and if anyone should get to stay here with her it’s me, but here I am, trying to save you, because as _stupid_  as you’re being right now, we need you!”

The only sound in the room is Claudia’s heavy breathing as she tries to calm down, and neither she nor Artie notice that the storm outside has dissipated or that Leena has disappeared. Claudia breaks eye contact, walking over to the incorrectly placed door in the wall and throwing it open.

She points into the darkness on the other side. “Walk.”

For a moment, Claudia thinks Artie might argue with her, but he shuffles forward obediently, neither of them meeting the other’s eyes. As he steps through the doorway, they’re both jolted awake back in reality. Artie moans a bit as Jane checks on him, and Steve is all questioning eyes and somber glances, but Claudia stares at the wall, standing silently and walking past Steve. She raises a hand when both he and Jane begin to protest and she must still be throwing off anger because they both fall silent and let her leave.

As she walks down the hallway, she catches the slightest hint of Leena’s perfume in the air. It makes her clench her jaw and walk faster.

She and Artie will talk about what happened. 

Later.

Much,  _much_  later.


End file.
